NA TURB 



December 12, 1901 



The European fame of Sir William MacCormac as a 

 British surgeon almost equals that of Lord Lister. 

 Honours were showered upon him by the Governments 

 and learned societies of foreign States, and his friends 

 included some of the most famous continental surgeons 

 of modern times. Stromeyer, Esmarch, Langenbeck, 

 Coler, Billroth, Mundy, Larrey, Pozzi and many others 

 knew and admired his work and valued his friendship, 

 while his commanding presence was recognised and ac- 

 claimed in all assemblies of military surgeons, wherever 

 he went. Indeed it may be said of him that no man in 

 this country kept up his connection with colleagues 

 abroad as he did. His hospitality to them and to all his 

 Iriends was proverbial. 



MacCormac's minor contributions to the literature of his 

 profession are chiefly found in the St. Thomas's Hospital 

 reports and in the medical journals. His larger works, in 

 addition to articles on"(".unshot Wounds" in Heath's 

 "Surgery," "Diseases of the Bones and Joints" in 

 Quain's " Dictionary of Medicine," and " Hernia " in 

 Treves' " System of Surgery," are "Antiseptic Surgery," 

 the development of an address delivered at St. 

 Thomas's Hospital, published in 1880 and translated 

 into French and Russian, and " Surgical Operations," 

 the first part of which, the ligatures of arteries, was 

 published in 1885, and the second, operations on joints 

 and nerves, in 1889. With the e.xception, however, of 

 his " Notes and Recollections of an Ambulance Sur- 

 geon," none of his writings are likely to have the 

 same historical interest as his father's work on con- 

 sumption, and it can scarcely be claimed that the success 

 of his career was due to any exercise of a power for 

 scientific investigation, although he undoubtedly pos- 

 sessed that power. He was skilful as an operator, lucid 

 and loved as a teacher ; but it was his wisdom in 

 counsel, the sanity of his judgment, the common 

 sense of his oratory, rather than any marked ad\ances 

 made by him in the science and art of surgery, that 

 gained him the unique distinction of being elected 

 president of the Royal College of Surgeons- four times in 

 succession. He was knighted in 1881 for his services 

 as general secretary of the Seventh International Medical 

 Congress in London, and was created a baronet on the 

 occasion of the Oueen's Jubilee in 1897. He was ap- 

 pointed a K.C.V.C). in 1898 and a K.C.B. in February 

 last after his return from South Africa. He was appointed 

 Surgeon-in-Ordinary to H.R.H. the Prince of Wales and 

 Honorary Sergeant-Surgeon to the King on his Majesty's 

 accession to the Throne. The last year of his life was 

 somewhat saddened by the controversies that arose in 

 consequence of his outspoken support of the Army 

 Medical Service during the war. He felt bitterly how 

 much the country had been misled by those who de- 

 cried the work of the Army medical officers and who knew 

 little of war and still less of the surgical possibilities of war. 



Sir William MacCormac married, in 1861, Miss 

 Charteris, of Belfast, but had no family. Lady Mac- 

 Cormac, who was his life-long companion and accom- 

 panied him wherever he went, survives him. 



The funeral of Sir William MacCormac took place on 

 Monday, the first part of the funeral service being observed 

 at the church of .St. Peter, \'ere Street. His Majesty the 

 King was represented by General Godfrey Clerk. The 

 French and (German Embassies in London were repre- 

 sented, respectively, by M. E. Daeschner and Major 

 Count von Bredow. The French Consul-( General in 

 London was also present. The council of the Royal 

 College of Surgeons was represented by Mr. J. Langton, 

 Mr. H. (;. Howse, Mr. T. Bryant, Mr. A. WiUett, Mr. R. 

 Harrison, Mr. H. T. Butlin and Mr. W. W. Cheyne. 

 Prof. C. .Stewart, conservator of the museum, was also 

 present, as well as many others connected with the 

 Royal College of Surgeons and the profession of surgery. 



NO. 1676, VOL. 65] 



The Royal College of Physicians was represented by 

 Sir W. S. Church (president), Sir Dyce Duckworth 

 (treasurer) and Dr. E. Liveing (registrar). Of St. 

 Thomas's Hospital, with which Sir W. MacCormac had 

 been so long connected, there were many representatives. 

 Among other institutions represented were the French 

 Hospital, the Army Medical Department, Medical De- 

 partment of the Navy, the Italian Hospital, (,)ueen 

 Charlotte's Hospital, the University of London, the 

 British Museum and the British Association. Among 

 many others present were Lord Lister, Sir William 

 liroadbent. Sir Norman Lockyer, Sir Thomas Smith, 

 Sir Lauder Brunton. Dr. T. Seymour Tuke, Dr. 

 P. H. Pye-Smith, Major-tieneral Sir Owen Tudor 

 Burne, Mr. Andrew Clark, Sir J. and Lady Fayrer, Dr. 

 and Mrs. D'Arcy Power, Sir F. and Lady Semon, Lady 

 Dyce Duckworth, Sir A. S. Wells, Sir S. Wilks, Sir 

 J. W. Williams and Sir James Blyth. 



THOMAS MEEHAN. 

 T^HE eminently successful life of Thomas Meehan, 

 -'■ distinguished as a gardener, a botanist and a citizen, 

 closed on Xo\ember ig. Mr. Meehan was born in 

 London in March 1826, and received what little schooling 

 he had in the Isle of Wight, where his family had settled. 

 Leaving school at an early age, and displaying a marked 

 aptitude for gardening, he was employed under his father 

 in the gardens of Colonel Francis X'ernon Harcourt, at 

 St. Clare, near Kyde. When only fourteen he succeeded 

 in raising the first hybrid Fuchsia, .St. Clare, and in ap- 

 preciation of a paper which he published on Rubus was 

 elected, when only nineteen, a member of the Wernerian 

 Society. After holding various gardening appointments 

 he entered the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in 1846, on 

 the recommendations of Dr. Bromfield and Prof C. C. 

 Babington. At Kew, where he stayed a little more than 

 two years, he made the acquaintance of Berthold Seemann, 

 with whom he was a candidate for the appointment of 

 botanist to the Herald expedition. On leaving Kew he 

 became head-gardener to the Earl of Shrewsbury at 

 Alton Towers, a post which, owing to his religious 

 opinions, he was soon obliged to relinquish. Though 

 offered tempting inducements to remain in his native 

 country, Meehan determined to make America his home, 

 and reached Philadelphia in March 1848. 



His career there opened in the humble position of a 

 nursery labourer. But advancement quickly followed. 

 He obtained employment in the famous Bartram Gar- 

 dens of Philadelphia, and in 1853, with remarkably little 

 capital, established a nursery business of his own, which, 

 in conjunction with his sons, he continued to the end of 

 his life. He was a voluminous writer on horticultural and 

 botanical subjects. He founded the well-known Mce/uxn's 

 Monthly^ and half a century ago published his " 1 landbook 

 of Ornamental Trees. ' In 1878-79 appeared " The Native 

 Flowers and Ferns of the L'nited States," a handsome 

 illustrated work in two large octavo volumes. His 

 botanical papers contributed to various scientific journals, 

 and chiefly to the I'locecdiiii^s of the Academy of Natural 

 Sciences of Philadelphia, number considerably more than 

 a hundred. Enthusiastic in all his undertakings. Meehan 

 became a leading member of the Philadelphia Academy, 

 of which he was vice-president for more than twenty 

 years ; a representative of his ward in the Common 

 Council, and a member of the local school board ; while 

 his botanical attainments secured for him the proud 

 position of Botanist to the Pennsylvania State Board of 

 Agriculture. 



Reviewing his life's story, the heroic toil, the splendid 

 energy, the brilliant success achieved in spite of all 

 obstacles, a tribute of praise such as this, and from a far 

 wider world, is due to the memory of Thomas Meehan. 



S. A. Sk.w. 



